The words "vampire" and "perfect life-form" were clearly very difficult to connect.
Whether in the movies and shows from his previous life or the church books in this one, vampires were explicitly described as nothing more than unclean creatures transformed from the dead.
Vampires were neither alive nor dead, which made it difficult even to call them life-forms.
At the very least, Norton felt that he no longer counted as a life-form.
"Drip... drip..."
Drops of water fell from the rock at the cave entrance. Over the years, stalactites had formed where the water dripped from above.
If a geologist came to take a look, this cave would definitely become a nationally protected site.
But there were no such protections in this era, so Norton could crawl inside without a care.
Daylight had already flooded the world outside, but the cave remained pitch-dark.
Norton had night vision, however, so he didn't mind the darkness. He was more concerned with how well the cave would hide him.
Once the church discovered that the knight was dead, it would surely deduce that Norton had become a vampire.
So the church would definitely send people to capture him.
Norton had been running for an entire night, racing along with the earthenware jar he had stolen the previous night clutched in his arms.
But because he didn't know the roads, he had no idea where he had ended up.
He had kept track of how far he was fleeing, though, trying not to stray too far from the city.
According to the book about monsters he had read, the forests and lakes in this place were extremely dangerous.
Monsters born from all kinds of crossbreeding were found almost everywhere in the wilderness, and all kinds of monsters he had never even heard of in his previous life had habitats of their own. There were strange plants and animals in the forests, for example, and all manner of water monsters and sea monsters in the rivers and oceans.
All in all, even though he had become a vampire, Norton felt that he was still living a very stifled life.
For now, the only places suitable for him to hide were on the outskirts of a large city.
These places weren't deep in the forest, and because they were near a large city, the church had already cleared out most of the monsters to keep the city safe. Yet because they weren't in the city itself, he wouldn't get entangled with the church. That made them among the best places for a fugitive to live.
And among those places, caves were undoubtedly his first choice.
Many large caves had a great many branching passages. Even modern professional equipment might struggle to find someone in certain complex caves. Without a doubt, they were the best places to hide.
If church knights weren't so strictly regulated, Norton would have wanted to put on armor, impersonate one, and hide in the church itself.
After all, the darkest place was under the lamp!
Of course, it was also possible that he had run so far that they simply wouldn't come to search the cave he was in.
Norton walked onward through the pitch-black cave.
Although it was called a cave, the place was actually more like a fissure in the mountain. The entrance wasn't large, but the space inside was absurdly vast.
The passage leading farther in was also exceptionally long, and even the ceiling grew higher. The sound of running water came from the depths.
"An underground river?"
Norton looked ahead. A little farther on, water had already spread across the ground. Combined with the sound of flowing water, there was clearly a channel inside.
Only an underground river scouring the rock over countless years could have carved out an opening this large.
Norton was a little wary.
There were all kinds of monsters in this place. He hoped there wasn't some terrifying giant python or Cthulhu-sized squid in the underground river.
He really was a little afraid of deep water.
He was especially afraid of a monster emerging from an underground river in a cave like this.
Fortunately, when Norton finally reached the deepest part, no strange creatures had appeared nearby for the time being.
A secluded pool occupied a small part of the open ground at the very back, but judging by the water marks on the ground where Norton stood, the area had probably been filled with water before.
Whether because of a quiet period or a change in course, the water level had dropped, exposing a large area of open ground.
The small pool was clear and still. It didn't look very deep, and even its surface was motionless, but there could very well be an undercurrent below.
Norton focused his gaze on the pool and swept his eyes over it.
He could see straight to the bottom. Apart from a few small fish and shrimp that were entirely white or transparent, there was nothing else, not even aquatic plants.
Norton finally breathed a sigh of relief.
There didn't seem to be any other openings nearby, and to be honest, this place wasn't very safe.
But since water could flow in, there had to be a gap underneath.
"Becoming a vampire really does have its perks. At least I don't need to breathe, so I can't drown if I jump into the water!"
That meant he could explore underwater, or even live there, to hide himself.
"Clack." Norton set the jar of blood he had carried all the way on the open ground beside him, then took off his heavy armor.
He planned to take a bath and have a good look at the changes in himself.
He had been running through the wilderness for nearly a full day and night since yesterday, and his body was already covered in dust and plant roots, stems, and leaves.
As for bloodstains, his body seemed able to absorb any blood splashed onto it on its own, so he didn't need to worry about the blood.
Since there were small fish and shrimp in the water, it definitely wasn't very poisonous, so he didn't need to worry about whether his body could withstand some deadly toxin.
Splash! Norton, stripped as bare as a shelled egg, jumped into the water from the bank.
The icy water of the underground river gave Norton no jolt. Although he could feel its temperature, he no longer seemed to be a warm-blooded animal.
His body matched the temperature of his surroundings, and now that he was soaking in the icy river water, his body temperature had fallen along with it.
Norton soaked quietly in the water. The eye mask he used for night vision kept the water out perfectly and even let him see exceptionally clearly underwater.
His lungs, which he hadn't used again since yesterday, felt no pressure at all, and there was no change even as he dived deeper.
If he could return to his own world, wouldn't he be able to become the best fisherman?
"Phew!" Norton surfaced and tried blowing air out of his mouth.
He found that he could indeed blow air out, and his lungs still felt no sense of suffocation. But where had the air in his lungs come from?
Norton felt that vampires were becoming more and more remarkable.
Splash! Norton dived back into the water, his eyes wide open as he surveyed his surroundings beneath the surface.
He wanted to see if there was somewhere underwater where he could hide.
That way, if the church knights came and blocked the entrance, he could still escape underwater.
If there was no second exit here, he would have no choice but to find another hiding place.
Norton had always preferred to play it safe. Otherwise, he wouldn't have spent twenty years in captivity without ever thinking of escaping early.
The water was crystal clear, and he could see everything around him.
Norton felt the direction of the current around his body, then followed it with his gaze.
Near the inner side of the small pool, above his head, there really was a small opening slanting upward. It happened to be blocked by a stalactite that had probably fallen from the cave ceiling, leaving only a few narrow gaps for the water to flow through.
Norton was delighted and quickly swam toward the small opening.
Neither the stalactite nor the opening was large, and Norton's strengthened body could easily push the stalactite aside.
After the stalactite was pushed away, perhaps because the water was connected, Norton didn't feel the current grow any swifter.
There was only one possible explanation for this: there should also be a small pool at the same water level on the other side of the opening. Only then would there be no siphon effect at the opening.
Norton felt a little pleased with himself. He hadn't expected that, even after twenty years, the knowledge he had learned in his previous life would still come in handy.
Norton glanced into the depths of the opening.
The passage was long and pitch-black inside. Although his vampire night vision let him see what was nearby, he couldn't see anything farther in.
He couldn't be sure whether there were any terrifying man-eating fish or giant pythons in the small pool on the other side, so he felt he needed to be more cautious.
Splash!
Norton swam back to the bank, then brought over the earthenware jar he used to hold blood.
After a whole night, the blood had long since congealed. Norton reached in and dug out a limp lump of clotted blood, then tossed it into the pool.
The blood slowly dissolved in the water. Its scent was enough to attract any carnivorous creatures in the other pool.